>BOOST O2 >> The Odds of Happiness

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What Increases the Odds of Happiness

What types of people are more likely to be happy?

A new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper called “International Happiness,” by economists David G. Blanchflower of Dartmouth College in the U.S. and Andrew J. Oswald  of the University of Warwick in England, offers some insights.
Blanchflower and Oswald give an overview of findings, in a number of nations, about factors that are associated statistically with either increased or decreased levels of reported well-being. Among the characteristics that they say have been shown to be linked, in people in a substantial number of nations, to a greater likelihood of happiness, are being:

• Young or old (rather than in midlife)
• Financially well-off
• Educated
• Married
• Employed
• Physically healthy
• A person who exercises
• Someone who eats a diet that contains lots of fruits and vegetables
• Not overweight.

In other words, if your mother or father advised you to eat right and exercise, get a good education, get a good job and get married, they had a point: People who are successful in following those pieces of advice are, statistically speaking, more likely to be among the happy.  (However, if mom and/or dad also advised you to have children, you may want to note: The economists report that, at least in the U.S., having children at home is associated with less happiness.)
Some other interesting findings about the U.S. that Blanchflower and Oswald report:

• In the U.S., self-employed people are likely to be happier than other people earning about the same amount.
• Unemployment is linked to a lot of unhappiness — and, even among those employed, there is a strong association between job insecurity and unhappiness.  
• Overall, Americans’ happiness level has not increased since the 1970s, and may be a little lower.

What factors are associated with greater levels of happiness in a country as a whole?  Here’s what the authors of the working paper “International Happiness” report:

“Happy countries are disproportionately rich, educated, democratic, trusting, and low-unemployment.”  (Quotation © 2011 by David G. Blanchflower and Andrew J. Oswald.)

Related articles

• Happiest places have highest suicide rates says new research (scienceblog.com)
• Happiest places have highest suicide rates says new research (eurekalert.org)
• Why living in an affluent area means you are more likely to commit suicide (dailymail.co.uk)
• People in happier countries more likely to commit suicide: study (canada.com)
• Mid-Life Crisis and The Letter U (fyiliving.com)
• Are You Happy In Ohio? Not According To This Study… (radio923fm.radio.com)
• After Middle Age, People Get Happier As They Get Older (izabael.com)
• Happiest States Have Most Suicides (webmd.com)

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>BOOST O2 >> LIFE >> The BEST way for delivering bad news >> TIPS

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10 tips for delivering bad news

By Calvin Sun

No one loves the messenger who brings bad news. — Sophocles

Giving someone bad news is never easy, but there are right ways and wrong ways of going about it. Calvin Sun has some advice on the best methods for sharing unpleasant information.

During the course of your career, you may have to deliver bad news to someone. That bad news could go to a subordinate, a client, or your boss. The way you handle the situation and yourself can have an impact on your career and your stress level. Here are some tips.

1: Set and manage expectations beforehand if you can

Sometimes, bad news comes completely unexpectedly…  If you believe that something you attempt might turn out unfavorably for a client or customer, let that person know first. Above all, be careful about guaranteeing results or saying that a particular outcome is a “sure thing.”
If necessary, outline all the risks and potential issues that might prevent the desired result.
You may not always be able to do this. But if you can set expectations, your job of delivering bad news will be much easier.

2: Do a proper setup for the moment

Don’t deliver bad news casually or in passing. Set up a time to talk with the other person. If you need to deliver the news right at the moment, say, “I need to talk with you about [the matter].” In other words, establish a setting and a context for the conversation, instead of just springing the news.

3: Get to the point

I’ve never known bad news to improve with keeping. The late actor Sir Alec Guinness delivered this memorable line in the 1980 movie Little Lord Fauntleroy. Yes, some people do like to preface the bad news with background information and details of everything they did and everything they tried. Better, though, simply to cut to the chase and tell the person the bad news. Chances are, that person won’t even be listening to all your preliminary words anyway.

4: Explain the background and give details

After you give the bad news, you can provide background and details. In particular, you will want to explain what happened as well as the steps you took. The person who gets your bad news will want to know this information and probably has a right to know it.

5: Be sitting down

Delivering the news to someone while both of you are sitting offers two advantages. First, if God forbid the person should faint, the chances of injury are decreased. Second, a discussion that happens while seated has less chance of getting emotionally out of control. In plain terms: it is harder to physically fight someone when you’re seated than when you’re standing.

6: Be sensitive to physical position

In the same way, be sensitive to how you are seated relative to the other person. If you’re behind a desk, keep in mind that that desk can serve as a psychological as well as physical barrier. If you feel comfortable doing so, and if you believe the other person is comfortable, consider sitting on the same side, or at least sitting at right angles. Either way, you will have signaled that are “on that person’s side.”

7: Separate yourself from the message

Sometimes the bad news you deliver is not your fault. Even so, the person who hears it will take out his or frustration on you. The classic example, of course, is the help desk analyst who tells a caller that the system or network will be down for another three hours. If you are that hapless analyst, be prepared to be the messenger who gets shot. Unfortunately, it comes with the territory. However, the more you can remind yourself that they aren’t upset at you personally, the greater the chances of keeping your stress under control.

8: Be sympathetic

Remember that when you deliver bad news to a person, you must deal with two issues: the technical matter of the news itself, but also the emotional reaction to the bad news. In fact, this emotional reaction is the aspect of your encounter that is far more critical. To reduce the chances of being the shot messenger, let the other person know that you are aware of their emotional reaction. You need not be a Dr. Phil, but a simple “I’m sorry about this situation” or “I’m sorry to have to tell you this” can work wonders.

9: Reframe the situation

Maybe the bad news you are delivering concerns your (or your group’s) inability to achieve some objective. Nonetheless, is there any silver lining news you can give? In other words, can you reframe the situation? Maybe they didn’t get the 20% productivity increase they expected; maybe instead they got only 15%. Rather than compare 20% to 15%, you might want to compare 15% to 0%. Similarly, maybe you were able to restore only three of the four weeks of data they lost. Of course, they would have preferred to recover all four weeks. But isn’t three weeks of recovered data better than none? This approach is not meant as en endorsement of mediocrity, but rather an attempt to get the other person to see things a different way.

10: Offer alternatives

If you must deliver bad news, maybe that bad result need not be the end of things. Do you have a plan to address or resolve the situation? If so, keep it in mind and offer to share it with the other person or group after you have delivered the bad news. In doing so, you will demonstrate a willingness to work through the problem and an ability to think and plan ahead. If the person receiving bad news is a key client or your boss, planning ahead could be valuable to your future.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

Get IT Tips, news, and reviews delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing to TechRepublic’s free newsletters.

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• How Pressure and Stress Affect Our Performance (peopletriggers.wordpress.com)

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>BOOST O2 >> ART >> Artful Quotes

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Artful Quotes

by Amy O

 

Cocaine is God’s way of saying

“You’re making too much money.”

— Robin Williams

To me, this says… be brave, own up to your mistakes, take responsibility for your actions, walk in with your head held high and deal with the consequences. ❤

OK, so this is technically not a quote, and I know not everyone loves the Cheezeburger kitties, but I find this hilarious! = )

I don’t want to

be interesting.

I want to be good.

-Ludwig Mies van der Rohe–

(20^th Century American architect)

There are people whom one loves immediately and forever. Even to know they are alive in the world with one is quite enough.

-Nancy Spain

-P.J. O’Rourke

“I am haunted by the demon of error – error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die.”
-George Ryan, former Illinois Governor

(In support of Illinois abolishing the death penalty this week.)

“May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door….”

-Irish Blessing

“Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.”

-Mike Ditka

“Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.”

-Mae West

“Think twice before you speak, and then you may be able to say something more insulting than if you spoke right out at once.”

-Evan Esar

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

-Oscar Wilde

“The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.”

–Ayn Rand

“Our bodies communicate to us clearly and specifically, if we are willing to listen to them.”

-Shakti Gawain

“The truth is more important than the facts.”

-Frank Lloyd Wright

“The cure for boredom is curiosity.

There is no cure for curiosity.“

– – Dorothy Parker

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”

-Robert Frost

“I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later.” – Mitch Hedberg

“The problem with close minded people is that they usually have their mouths open.” -me

“I’ve never known any trouble that an hour’s reading didn’t assuage.“– Charles de Secondat

“A good relationship is like fireworks: loud, explosive, and liable to maim you if you hold on too long.”

–Jeph Jacques

“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.”  

Dorothy Gail in “The Wizard of Oz”

 

“Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate.”

Jo Brand

“Love that is not madness is not love.”
Pedro Calderon de la Barca

“Don’t do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” – Henry Rollins

“A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”

-Ernest Hemingway

“Remember that happiness is a way of travel – not a destination.”

– Roy Goodman

“When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn’t the slightest intention of putting it into practice.”

-Otto Von Bismark

“Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.”

-Erica Jong

“Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.”

-Richard L. Evans

“When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.”

~Norm Crosby

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

 
Martin Luther King, Jr

“Trust that little voice in your head that says “Wouldn’t it be interesting if..”; And then do it.”
-Duane Michals

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”

– Buddha

“The love of democracy is that of equality.”

Charles de Montesquieu

“The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.”

Ralph W. Sockman

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.”

-Mike Murdock

We need anything politically important rationed out like Pez: small, sweet, and coming out of a funny, plastic head. – Dennis Miller 

“I’m not just trying to be a good game manager – I’m trying to be great.”

– Drew Brees

“There’s a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause.”

– P. J. O’Rourke

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>BOOST O2 >> Power stress is a business killer

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by Dr. Damigo; PhD

We act, decide and choose as a result of inner forces, often unconscious, and the brain’s reactive and protective mechanisms often rule us. Research reveals the fact that emotions are contagious, as initiated by the emotional states of leaders.

There’s a price to pay for continuously improving performance – achieve more,better, faster with less resources – with resulting heightened stress levels to leaders, often accompanied with deteriorating relationships.

The demands of leadership can produce what is known as “power stress,” a side effect of being in a position of power and influence that often leaves even the best leaders physically and emotionally drained.

What you get is, irritability, aggression, close-mindedness, dissatisfaction and neurotic outbursts, pessimistic panic. Overall a culture of fear.

Think about it! The effectiveness of a leader is determined by the results they achieve,as a result of the impact leaders have on others. Behavior is driven by thinking and emotions.

Related articles

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• Meditation helps decrease stress, suppress info overload (news.bioscholar.com)
• Meditation may help the brain ‘turn down the volume’ on distractions (medicalxpress.com)
• Functional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making process (eurekalert.org)
• How meditation can change your brain (smartrevolution.org)
• When Bureaucracy Kills Leadership (and Your Organization) 
• The Benefits of a Little Wackiness in the Workplace
• What Leadership Looks Like in 2034
• Do Men and Women Lead Differently? Who’s Better?
• How to Lead the Millennial Generation

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>BOOST O2 >> The 3 key elements of mindfulness meditation

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by Dr. Damigo; PhD

  Research contests that  mindfulness-enhanced traits include the capacity to suspend judgments, to act in awareness of our moment-to-moment experience, to attain emotional equilibrium.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, describes mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” Other definitions are: “bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis,” and  “it includes a quality of compassion, acceptance and loving-kindness.”

The three fundamental elements of mindfulness are:

• objectivity,
• openness, and
• observation

All together, create a threefold that enable the mind to become conscious of its mechanics and liberate it from its preoccupations of indecisiveness.

Related articles

• Pain reduction by mindfulness meditation – brain correlates (mindblog.dericbownds.net)
• Meditation helps decrease stress, suppress info overload (news.bioscholar.com)
• Meditation may help the brain ‘turn down the volume’ on distractions (medicalxpress.com)
• Functional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making process (eurekalert.org)
• How meditation can change your brain (smartrevolution.org)
• When Bureaucracy Kills Leadership (and Your Organization) 
• The Benefits of a Little Wackiness in the Workplace
• What Leadership Looks Like in 2034
• Do Men and Women Lead Differently? Who’s Better?
• How to Lead the Millennial Generation
• Why we need mindful leaders and a mindful workplace (psychologytoday.com)
• Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.: Are You Part Of The Mindfulness Revolution? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Beware of … (thecrazyrambler.wordpress.com)
• Andrea Avari Stevens Opens New Counseling Practice (andreastevens.wordpress.com)
• How meditation can change your brain (smartrevolution.org)
• Calming the Mind Retreat Offered By The Institute for Relational Harm Reduction (imaginepublicity.com)
• The Mindfulness Revolution (gabrielconstans.wordpress.com)
• Meditation helps decrease stress, suppress info overload (news.bioscholar.com)
• Do You Need an Experienced Meditation Teacher? (alwayswellwithin.com)
• Opening to Our Lives: Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Science of Mindfulness (bipolarblast.wordpress.com)

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>BOOST O2 >> Erase your perceptional blind spots point blanc

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by Dr. Damigo; PhD

 Researchers and mental health professionals contest that ancient mindfulness practices – originating in Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist and other traditions – hold great promise.
Daniel Siegel, a neuroscientist and author of The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being, contends that the development of perceptional blind spots is a killer.

David Rock, writing in Psychology Today argues that “busy people who run our companies and institutions …tend to spend little time thinking about themselves and other people, but a lot of time thinking about strategy, data and systems. As a result the circuits involved in thinking about oneself and other people, the medial prefrontal cortex, tend to be not too well developed.” Rock says “speaking to an executive about mindfulness can be a bit like speaking to a classical musician about jazz.”

Related articles

• Pain reduction by mindfulness meditation – brain correlates (mindblog.dericbownds.net)
• Meditation helps decrease stress, suppress info overload (news.bioscholar.com)
• Meditation may help the brain ‘turn down the volume’ on distractions (medicalxpress.com)
• Functional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making process (eurekalert.org)
• How meditation can change your brain (smartrevolution.org)
• When Bureaucracy Kills Leadership (and Your Organization) 
• The Benefits of a Little Wackiness in the Workplace
• What Leadership Looks Like in 2034
• Do Men and Women Lead Differently? Who’s Better?
• How to Lead the Millennial Generation

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>BOOST O2 >> Mindfulness can restore balance to leaders and workplaces

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by Dr. Damigo; PhD

Our modern world has become unbalanced, with little time allocated for just “being” and reflection.  Mindfulness can restore that balance to leaders and workplaces. Mindfulness, practiced  in organizations, can be a powerful antidote to the fear and aggression build-ups.
High-performance organizations, such as  Apple, Procter and Gamble, Unilever, Raytheon, Microsoft, SAP, NortelNetworks, Comcast, Yahoo, Google, eBay are offering employees classes in mindful meditation and senior executives such as Bill Ford Jr., Michael Stephen, Robert Shapiro and Michael Rennie practice regular mindful mediation as part of their leadership-enhancement routines.

Related articles

• Pain reduction by mindfulness meditation – brain correlates (mindblog.dericbownds.net)
• Meditation helps decrease stress, suppress info overload (news.bioscholar.com)
• Meditation may help the brain ‘turn down the volume’ on distractions (medicalxpress.com)
• Functional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making process (eurekalert.org)
• How meditation can change your brain (smartrevolution.org)
• When Bureaucracy Kills Leadership (and Your Organization) 
• The Benefits of a Little Wackiness in the Workplace
• What Leadership Looks Like in 2034
• Do Men and Women Lead Differently? Who’s Better?
• How to Lead the Millennial Generation

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>BOOST O2 >> Boost creativity and innovative drive

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by Dr. Damigo; PhD

Research shows mindfulness leads to significant changes in the brain-more cognitive flexibility, creativity and innovative drive, higher levels of well-being, better emotional regulation and more empathy, as reflected in increased levels of alpha and beta brain wave activity.
The National Institute of Health is currently financing more than 50 studies testing the potential health benefits of mindfulness techniques. A University of Pennsylvania study in which mindfulness meditation training was provided to a high stress U.S. military group preparing for deployment to Iraq has demonstrated a positive link between mindfulness training and improvements in mood and working memory.

Related articles

• Pain reduction by mindfulness meditation – brain correlates (mindblog.dericbownds.net)
• Meditation helps decrease stress, suppress info overload (news.bioscholar.com)
• Meditation may help the brain ‘turn down the volume’ on distractions (medicalxpress.com)
• Functional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making process (eurekalert.org)
• How meditation can change your brain (smartrevolution.org)
• When Bureaucracy Kills Leadership (and Your Organization) 
• The Benefits of a Little Wackiness in the Workplace
• What Leadership Looks Like in 2034
• Do Men and Women Lead Differently? Who’s Better?
• How to Lead the Millennial Generation

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>O2 LIFE > LISTEN TO YOUR THOUGHTS

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Mapping your thoughts?
Focus on the silence – the gap between two sounds inside your head?

Hear your thoughts when you receive praises and how buoyant you feel.
Observe the sound and voice.
Is it your voice?
Or does it belong to the person from whom you expect some thing or at least want to be acknowledged?
It’s important to notice who is talking to you inside your head at different points of time.

Now step back into the meeting and identify the source of those voices inside your head. Ignoring them would result in recurrence, until you pay  due attention. Hence, acknowledge them clearly and then park them aside to be dealt with later. Now focus on the discussion by your fellow attendees. Listen to what they say without making any judgements or tagging them to different compartments. Accept it as a human tendency to draw conclusions immediately. Halt, resist jumping the gun…

by Nabomita Mazumdar

What you hear from your colleagues is just the tip of the iceberg.
If you allow yourself to be conditioned at an early stage, you will miss the development and the big picture. Your experience and maturity have been programmed to identify patterns and segregate them into compartments. Let that happen, still choose to remain unaffected by it. Observe complete objectivity, until you have every data that you would require for decision making. 99.99% of the times, the thought that struck you at the first moment will stand true. However, remaining objective will enable a conscious decision making. Here ‘conscious’ implies being aware of the other parties much more than what your presumption would have allowed you to. Thus, it would become a higher order execution. It would then enable the start of a non-argumentative discussion. Consequently it will cut down the drama from your life.
During a presentation, you must have seen it repeatedly, that few members tend to fall out of the group. Why does it happen? What are they listening to when you are presenting? Even without exchanging any words, did you hear the same questions inside your head, which is why you could identify them as the ones falling out and have an idea, as to why it happened? Let’s see how does this works in a stress situation. Here’s a question asked by R. Joshi to the article Survival Strategies; Sink or swim.
“I would like to ask one question. When you are continuously not been valued, you may motivate yourself for some time.  However, how would you sustain, when you run out of your inner motivation?”
Replacing an external reaction by focusing on inner growth, may initially seem to be a neutral stage. Ekhart Tolle, discussed that, a neutral state doesn’t mean that you don’t care. It only means that you refuse to react. You halt and focus internally to check how you can turn it in a better direction. Here’s my experience while working on this principle. I used to prepare Power Point Slides for a reporting manager, who would give odd and negative feed backs about my skills. He used to make fun of my skills in front of others. It used to run me down and rob my sense of self-efficacy which made me sulk a lot. Then, I decided to brush my skills and enrolled for Presentation skills grooming program. It did not give me, any reward or any special recognition. My boss remained apathetic to all my efforts. However, during a town hall, to my surprise, I found him presenting the Power Point Slides prepared by me. Eventually, as my career progressed, I graduated into different roles with other organizations. Today, even though, there are no professional bindings, he still keeps in touch with me. The choice to listen to my surrounding accentuated into a neutral response externally, followed by a personal development. This earned me respect, strengthening my relationship with peers and other superiors in that office. Today when I look back, I can only see rich takeaway with added certification for presentation skills and a respectable relationship with seniors.
We are barely silent, inside our heads.  Tense moments, attenuates to this sound getting louder and coarser. During such situations, we need to program ourselves to listen to our surroundings, to know what will work for us in the long term. There is a statement that goes in my mind, when I hear it during such time, “I think I can. I can. I can. I know I will. I will, I will!” Just as, in the scheme of things, what is unbearable at a particular point of time, will soon cease to have any meaning. Similarly, sounds seamlessly transform to abundant variants creating echelons of responses.
So what are you listening to now?

Related articles

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• Learnng Styles take your test. (ldpride.net)
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• After “I Do” – Decision Making/Compromise (weddingbee.com)

ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS >>> KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST >>> ENJOY IT!

>O2 LIFE >>> Getting the most out of your Dreams (video)

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Tapping the Power of Your Dreams: Strategies for Remembering & Interpreting their Life Changing Messages (Video)

Judith Orloff, MD, is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and the author of Emotional Freedom.
more… 

Learn how to remember & interpret your dreams.

As a psychiatrist, I believe that dreams provide extraordinary insights into improving your health, relationships, and career. I consult my dreams for all important decisions using a technique which I describe in “Emotional Freedom” and below. You’d be surprised at the invaluable advice that your dreams give, either spontaneously or on request.
Science magazine reports that sleeping on something or “unconscious thought” can result in smarter decisions than over-thinking–especially with important choices. For instance, if you’re going crazy analyzing the pros and cons of a relationship, the Science study says that won’t get you very far. Rather, it proposes that you think less and sleep on the dilemma, to give your subconscious an opportunity to solve the problem.

How to Remember & Interpret Your Dreams
I recommend the following 5 strategies to remember your dreams.

1. Keep a dream journal and pen by your bed.
2. Write a question (just one!) in the journal before sleep.
3. Wake up slowly. In the morning, spend some quiet moments remembering your dream. Luxuriate in a peaceful feeling between sleep and waking, what’s called the “hypnagogic state.” Those initial moments provide a doorway.
4. Record your dream immediately–otherwise it will evaporate. You may recall a face, object, color, scenario, or feel an emotion. It doesn’t matter if it makes perfect sense. Do not censor anything. Nothing is too “strange” or “weird.”
5. See how the dream answers your question. Act on this answer and see if your life improves

Try this every day for a week. Keep at it. You are programming your subconscious to remember. Soon it will become second nature to you.
How do you interpret dreams? One key is to notice the most highly charged emotion in the dream-for instance, anger, fear, or joy. Next ask yourself, “Where in my life am I feeling these emotions?” Then, consider, how you can heal the situation or else celebrate a success. In addition, here are some common dreams and their interpretations.

A GUIDE TO INTERPRETING COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL DREAMS
Dreams about your fears, anxieties, and insecurities

• You’re standing buck naked in front of a group of people who are pointing at you. Meaning: You feel exposed, vulnerable, and unsafe about a situation.
• You’re taking a test and panic that you don’t know the answers. Meaning: You feel unprepared to meet a challenge or solve an emotional dilemma.
• You’re being chased by a horrifying pursuer. Meaning: You’re trying to escape a scary person or emotion (past or present) instead of facing it.
• You lose your wallet and are stranded without credit cards or cash. Meaning: You’re afraid you’re without the emotional resources to cope with one or more aspects of your life. 
• Your teeth fall out, crack, or decay. Meaning: You feel that a source of power has been taken away in your life; you can’t bite back or assert your needs in a situation. Also you may experience a lack of energy or nurturing from others. (Without strong teeth, it’s hard to chew food and assimilate its nutrients necessary for vitality).
• You’re wandering around lost, unable to find your way home. Meaning: You lack a sense of inner or outer direction. You don’t know how to get back on track with a situation or relationship and don’t feel emotionally supported.

Dreams affirming your strengths, emotional achievements, and largeness of spirit

• You’re able to fly, a natural, joyous feeling. Meaning: You’re empowered, creative, unfettered by the drag of negativity.
• You triumph over impossible odds–there is a flood, landslide, or a war and you survive. Meaning: You have the courage, strength, and heart to overcome difficult emotional obstacles.
• You give birth or watch someone give birth. Meaning: You’re coming into your own, thriving. It’s a time of new beginnings for relationships, career, or revitalizing health and emotions.
• You feel vibrant, eating (not overeating) a delicious meal in good company. Meaning: You’re nourishing yourself emotionally and others are nourishing you.
• You’re getting married or celebrating someone else’s wedding. Meaning: You’re becoming whole! Your physical, emotional, and spiritual sides are becoming integrated. You’re ready for more of an emotional commitment to yourself, your work, or another person.

Dreams let you pinpoint an emotional conflict, so you can solve it. For instance, if you’re standing naked before a group of jeering coworkers, ask yourself, “Might I have feelings of being exposed or berated at work?” Then take steps to feel more protected in that environment. Or if, in a dream, you’re wandering aimlessly, consider, “Where am I lost in my life, and how can I find my way?” Also, it’s crucial to honor the messages of encouragement dreams send. Emotional freedom comes from removing blocks as well as acknowledging your own clarity and power.
Judith Orloff MD is the author of the New York Times bestseller Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Three Rivers Press, 2011) now available in paperback and upon which this article is based. Her work has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, the Oprah Magazine and USA Today. Dr. Orloff synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition and energy medicine. An Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, she passionately believes that the future of medicine involves integrating all this wisdom to achieve emotional freedom and total wellness. For more inspiriation visit www.drjudithorloff.com. Buy Emotional Freedom and receive hundreds of bonus gifts at www.drjudithorloff.com/emotional-freedom-paperback/

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